We are near Jonzac (17500) and have a 15x6m pool which seems to have sprung a leak.
We’ve had the 3 yr old liner checked and it is OK.
One of the skimmers has dropped a bit and the suggestion from the liner company was that given the recent two years high temps and our clay-ish soil we have a pipe leak. Fill up the pool and the level soon settles below the bottom of the skimmers and just at the top of the inlets.
At the same time one of the two filters and its pump has to be replaced
I do not want to do any of this work myself so am seeking recommendations for suitable companies
The company that handled my pool refurbishment (a new pool inside the old failing english builder built pool) were fantastic and did a great job for me. They are just outside Riberac so i expect too far BUT reputation is everything and hopefully they may be able to recommend or point you to a reputable pool company in your area.
That would sound about right. Any cracks evident in the skimmer? If you get a pool bung and fit it into the skimmer to block that line you should know for sure.
Interested to know why one of the filters needs replacing? Also a pump replacement, are you considering a variable speed pump? Big savings in electricity and better filtration.
The guys who fitted our new liner (from the Royan area) said they were always astounded at how few pool companies there were in this area.
The local one to us said “try us in September, we are too busy” - which is more or less what they said twice before in the last ten years plus when we’d issues and called them
The liner firm recommended someone near Royan, but that company said out of their area.
Cognac Piscines seem to be the only other firm in this area so I’ll have to try them too
No obvious signed in the actual skimmers but one has certainly dropped.
When we couldn’t get anyone to come out - just over a year ago - we bunged up that skimmer and the linked one and operated the pool off the two remaining ones.
That worked ok until October when we came back from a holiday and found the pool half empty. Twice tried filling it up but in about a week the water level was back below the skimmers.
Couldn’t get anyone to look at it so it was left like that over winter.
There was so much rain between November and last month we’ve never been able to establish what level it sat at. Eventually got the liner people out, thoroughly checked it and they reckoned pipe problems, both at skimmer side and inlets on the other side.
Finding someone with pool pipework knowledge (cameras etc) is one thing - getting them to come out seems to be equally impossible
The pool was built (2008) for the then English owners by a French company which no longer exists.
They put in two filters/two pumps.
When we first bought the house we were UK domiciled and needed someone to look after the pool. We found someone who used to instal pools and he looked after it.
Then one filter continually dumped sand in the pool. Maybe something broke inside at the bottom - does that make sense? It was just before covid so I cannot remember.
He was replacing sand in the other filter when he stripped the bottom thread - and at the same time the pump burnt out.
When the poolhouse was originally fitted (it’s a small converted barn/stable/byre sitting below the pool) it looks like they put the filters in through the roof and then put on a new roof.
No forward thought about future replacement because they were too big to come out through the door (even with the frame removed).
We found a replacement which fitted and the guy looking after the pool had to cut the old one up to get it out. I think that (old age and ill health) almost killed him and he’s disappeared (after leaving us with one working filter and pump).
So we need someone to break up the other original filter, remove and replace it, along with a new pump.
And lack of use seems to have caused an issue with the other pump - hopefully it’s just stuck through inactvivity (the liner company’s suggestion)
Pump replacement - I’d consider anything that is efficient and suitable.
But that looks like being down to whether or not we can find anyone to do all the work
We have used Piscine Ambiance. They have a handful of shops, including one in La Rochelle which may not be too far from you.
They replaced the liner, skimmers (including moving them up) and lighting, and built corner steps to replace an old semicircular, fibregass ,“escalier Roman” that had seriously deteriorated over 10 years or so. We were totally happy with their workmanship.
Thats good, for the size of your pool 2 filters would be correct, sadly not often done. Whether you need two pumps we can go on to look at, if you can tell me the size of the filters and pumps I can certainly cast an eye over the tech. The fact they are below the waterline is great! That means energy saving is very possible. If you have a picture of the equipment it would be helpful for any advice you may want.
Could well be, if you can slip off the cover of the fan at the pumps rear, you can see if it will turn manually or not, sometimes just freeing it off is enough. If it just sits and hums could be the start run capacitor as they fail quite frequently and are a low cost part.